You are creating a project and find yourself in need of locating that perfect image to make it complete. You search online for hours, find just the right photo only to find you will have to pay a fortune for that one image. You can eliminate all this hassle by heading to istockphoto first.

The first thing you need to do is create a membership account on the iStockphoto home page. Once your account is setup, you select a price plan that suits your needs and your budget. Images, illustrations and video clips are available for purchase on a credit system. Each of these media outputs cost three credits on average. You can pay $33 the credits you need to download one image, illustration or video clip. There is a monthly subscription plan that has two levels of service, essential and signature. The essential plan is $40 per month and grants you access to ten non-signature photos, illustrations or video clips each month. A signature subscription plan is $99 per month and gives you access to the entire iStockphoto library.

Now that your account is open, you are ready to start finding the perfect images you need to complete your latest project. The istockphoto home page features a selection of free products that are currently available. You are free to use as many of these images, videos or illustrations as you would like without having to worry about burning through your monthly download quota. The free items typically appear towards the bottom of the home page.

Right above the free items section are the paid categories that you can select from. Examples of these categories include infographics, business images and background images. There is also a search box available allowing you to find quickly the images, video clips and illustrations of interest to exactly what you have in mind.

Once you have found a photo, video or illustration that works for what you have in mind, you just use the credit system to obtain the item. You can now download the item to your computer where you are free to use it whenever and wherever you like.

When a new project arrives on your desk that needs a perfect photo to go with it, you only visit the iStockphoto website, log into your account and start searching for the next picture, illustration or video clip to compliment your design.